Earth and Water
by TARDISTraveller
Summary: The Doctor and Clara land on the swampy future Earth. What will happen when they get caught up in one species' quest for total amphibian domination?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"I give you...the amphibious future of planet Earth."

The Doctor pushed the TARDIS doors open with both hands, letting Clara lead the way outside. Her fingers brushed against the door for balance as her boots slushed into the ground below. A smile lifted her features.

The Doctor followed closely behind his companion, easing the doors closed as Clara let her hand drop back to her side. She deemer the planet was safe enough, then, if she was willing to let go of the time machine. Score one point for the Doctor.

The last place they had travelled to had not been so secure. The second they arrived, lava had spewed up from an open river, nearly burning a hole in Clara's shoe. The human dashed back into the TARDIS as quickly and assuredly as she had left it, and didn't even pause for explanation before punching the Doctor powerfully in the shoulder. While his mouth was still open in shock and pain, she stuck her hands in the Telepathic Circuits and got them out of the volcano, just a moment before the whole thing exploded. Even the TARDIS would've probably been damaged in an explosion like that.

It was for this reason that the Doctor was eager to take her somewhere with water. That had never earned him any punches or almost blown-up TARDISes. And besides, it looked just like Yoda's planet of Dagobah. How cool was that?

Clara slushed through the mud a bit further, leaving the Doctor trailing behind. He tried to make up the distance as quickly as possible, hopping through the mud, but his boot got stuck with the first jump he took. It was so embedded in the watery dirt that he had to call Clara back to him and hold onto her shoulder for support while he tugged his shoe out of the muck. She was laughing at him almost the entire time, and his embarrassment levels were climbing steadily. Just a typical day, then.

A seemingly endless lake stood before them, lying just beyond the large, swampy forest they had landed in. Trees and shadows hung ominously around them, guiding them towards the water with their bending branches. Clara shivered as she heard a noise in the distance and began walking a fraction closer to the Doctor. It was probably a future bird or something, but on these trips, one could never be sure. With their luck, it was probably a Dalek. Or a Cyberman. Or, to be more realistic, a Dalek-Cyberman Hybrid. Clara stepped just a little closer to her Timelord companion.

They reached the edge of the lake and gazed out into the distance. It was utterly beautiful. The shadowed forest around them faded out of existence. It was just them. Them and the endless blue water. Unpolluted. Pure. Perfect. Clara turned her face up to look at the Doctor. His face was a mere silhouette in the darkness of dusk, looking out at the still sea, and the tips of his curly hair were dancing in the breeze. The sunset behind him rose gradually from navy blue to light pink, fading into shades of purples and yellows in between. Clara felt time stop. These were the moments she travelled to see; the moments she lived for. Simple, beautiful images that kept her going, even when she was being chased by a Zygon or waking up at five in the morning to go to work.

The sound of guns clicking into place echoed through the still night from behind them and the moment met an abrupt end. Both human and Timelord spun around to meet the enemy face to face, raising their hands automatically as the dark figures of three tall bipeds came into focus. A voice hissed through the air.

"Who are you? Where do you come from?"

"We're, umm," Clara bit her lip and glanced at the Doctor anxiously. He continued for her.

"On holiday."

Clara nodded along to his ridiculous story, then added on, "Just checking out the sights. Might pop into the lake for a swim later."

The shadowed figure in the center of the three took a step forward, into the open beach area. His head looked to be somewhat covered by a helmet, but Clara definitely noticed some scales. On further inspection, they continued down to a ridged tail, like an Alligator. The creature readjusted his weapon and leaned it closer to the two time travelers.

"Are you from the Lobod tribe?"

Clara shook her head, eyes trained on the gun in front of her. "Ugh, no. Don't think so. We're from...out of town."

Suddenly, the Alligator-man put his hand up and lowered his weapon, as did the two figures behind him. "I thought not. The Lobods need no air from above as we do. They are creatures of the sea alone. Come, strangers. We shall take you to see our leader. He will be most fascinated by you."

The Doctor and Clara let their hands fall to their sides as the creatures walked off into the forest. Clara and the Doctor hung behind for a minute, watching their new acquaintances with curiosity. Clara leaned up to the Doctor and quietly whispered, "Did we just become friends with an Alligator-man?"

The Doctor didn't respond, compelling Clara to look up at him. His eyebrows were furrowed and he had a scowl on his face that Clara knew all too well. It meant he was already questioning them. Figuring them out. Finding out if they could be trusted.

The rough voice of the 'Alligator-man' called from the depths of the trees. "Strangers; it would be unwise of you to fall behind in these woods at the time of night."

Clara turned back to the path in front of her and followed the footprints the creatures had left until she caught up with them. The Doctor trailed behind her, doubt and curiosity still stirring in his brain.

It was ten minutes and many sloshy steps until they reached what looked like a city, with many small wooden cabins glowing with golden, misty light that contrasted harshly with the gray-green forest around the outside fence. There seemed to be only one main road with a few side streets in the whole town. A large building, taller than three of the cabins on top of each other and decorated with Greek columns, stood at the end of the main road. The Doctor and Clara followed the three Alligator-like creatures to the front of this building before the one who had talked to them earlier spoke to the again.

"Our leader is inside. He has been informed of your coming. You will not speak until spoken to, and, then, with the highest respect. Do you understand?"

Clara and the Doctor nodded curtly to the creature, then turns to one another and raised their eyebrows, hiding their smiles from the guards outside the building as the doors were opened in front of them. The light bursting out of the entrance was blinding at first, but they stepped inside anyway. The floor in here was made of marble, a welcome change from the mud Clara and the the Doctor had grown accustom to. In the far side of the room, a throne sat backwards on a platform above the ground, and as they approached it, Clara felt her boots slowly getting the shiny floor more and more filthy. Her shoes were absolutely covered in grime. Something told her she was going to have to go shopping after this adventure was through.

The tall doors slammed shut, making both Timelord and human jump and turn to the wall behind them. They were stuck here now. Up to the leader's bidding.

When they turned back to the throne, they were shocked to see it spun the right way round, facing them, and even more surprised to see the figure sitting in it. It was a gator-man, like the guards had been, only this one was wearing a robe and crown. A golden staff was held in his hand, touching the platform below him at an almost perfect 90° angle. When he spoke, he sounded just as high-class and dignified as a fairytale King. Clara held back a smile as she thought how ridiculous this all was.

"You strangers come to us at a most opportune time. It seems fate has deemed you worthy of greeting me tonight, or my guards would not have found you. I seek the opinion of two outsiders in this matter, for I wish not to express my doubts to my people."

Clara cleared her voice and adopted her most regal tone. "What is the situation with which you feel conflicted?"

The Doctor gave her a curious look, which she answered with a smirk. The king stood, then, and motioned for them to follow him. They traced two tracks of mud into a small room off of the throne room. Both the walls and floor in here were a dark gray tile and maps and papers were pasted all over. It was all very militaristic. A metal desk stood in the center, with two neat piles of paper sitting on top. The king sat in the only chair, behind the desk, and folded his hands together.

"I am General Salam, the leader of the Frodile people. Our race is currently in the midst of the greatest rise in population we have ever known. We have expanded our empire as far as the swamp lands allow, and our resources are dwindling. The only place we have left to inhabit are the seas, but there we face a great dilemma. The Lobods, a peaceful people, depend on the sea for life. This is the conflict that has given me great worry for many a month."

The Doctor's eyes had been glued to the map above the the general's head the entire time, brain turning every detail over in rapid succession. "And how do you propose to end this conflict?"

Salam shifted in his seat, only slightly. "It has been decided that we must remove the Lobods from the sea. It is our only way to survive and expand."

The Doctor turned sharply to the general. Clara could see the fury in his eyes rising. "What?"

"The Lobod tribes have grown to fit the entire lakebed. There is no room for us there or on land. Drastic measures must be taken; for my people to survive."

The Doctor leaned over the desk, folding his hands, a placid look on his face. Too placid. Clara felt the anger inside of him getting ready to burst. "Do I have this correct? You want to destroy an entire species; a peaceful people; just so that your empire can grow? Just to have control over more people?"

The general's features went rigid. "My people are dying. Every day there is less food to eat; water to drink. All of the land creatures are being eaten by my people too quickly. Soon there will be nothing but the sea, and that is Lobod territory."

"Can't you...work something out? Share?"

"Sharing will last only until one of my citizens makes a mistake and kills one of the Lobods. Then we will have war."

Clara took a step closer to the desk. "Hold on; you said they were peaceful. They can't start a war if they don't have an army."

Salam glanced to his left and leaned in close to her and the Doctor. "I've heard rumors that they've built a secret army. An entire militia. They're peaceful for now...but what happens when we start making them angry?"

The Doctor took a deep breath and bent his head down. "Rumors. Are you actually going to end a species because of what may or may not happen if you let them live?

Salam's hand formed a fist on the desktop. "I see that your opinion differs from mine greatly. Therefore; I shall give you 3 hours to change my mind. You may speak with the Lobod leader, Wels Alowana, and work out a better solution. Perhaps you can also ease my mind about these rumors."

Clara raised an eyebrow at the general. "What happens in three hours?"

"In three hours, we drain the Lobod buildings of oxygen."

Clara had to just about hold the Doctor back from jumping across the desk and tackling Salam. "What you're suggesting is genocide!"

The general stood with his palms pressed into the desk. "It is the only way I know how to save my people and the rest of the creatures that inhabit this planet."

Clara pulled the Doctor by the shoulders out of the room and into the muddy town outside. His nostrils flared as he breathed, boots gliding across the ground as he swiftly made for the lake. This time, they got there in less than five minutes. Clara was exhausted.

At the dock was a Frodile, carrying two identical objects in his hands, holding them out to the Doctor and Clara as they approached. "You must wear these if you are going underwater."

Clara picked up the device with one hand and looked at it curiously in the moonlight. It was almost impossible to tell what it was until she looked at the Doctor, who had wrapped it around his mouth and nose. "It's an oxygen mask."

Clara threw hers on quickly, slightly embarrassed, and gave the Doctor a thumbs up. Without another word, they made their way onto the cement dock, which slowly started lowering, until they found themselves facing a long, metal hallway filled to the brim with water. Clara turned to the Doctor, but he had already taken a step off the elevator into the hallway. She had to jog to catch up with him, and even when she did, his pace was much too fast for her short legs. Clara had never seen him this furious. This set on winning.

The Doctor was gone. The Oncoming Storm was here.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Their shoes clicked against the metal floor, echoing low, groaning noises throughout the corridor. Something was wrong here; Clara just couldn't put her finger on what it was. Something so basic she couldn't even think of what it was...

"The gravity's been tampered with to hold everything down."

The Doctor voiced her thoughts for her. Clara's eyebrows furrowed in concentration as she gazed around the cold hall and followed the Doctor to the right as they met a fork in the road. He was a step or two ahead of her,facing forward, not a hint of a spring in his step. Suddenly another question rose in Clara's mind. "How can we hear each other?"

The Doctor pointed simply at the oxygen mask that covered half of his face. It was clear and made of some kind of strong plastic or futuristic glass, and it seemed much more complex than the one's they had back in the 21st century. "Special mask; works more like a space helmet. Blocks the water from your ears, too."

At this, Clara raised a hand to her ear and felt the device stretching around her head, covering her ears. She hadn't really been paying attention to anything when they had first come down here, she had been so focused on the Doctor.

They kept up their brisk pace down the corridors, finding nothing different in each hallway except a few details in the walls. Clara jogged up to the Doctor's side and forced her legs to move twice as fast. "Hey."

Quickly, she reached her hand over to the Doctor's swinging arm and grasped it gently, slowing him down to a stop. As he turned down face her, she gave him her biggest and kindest eyes. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, Clara. What about you? You're eyes are bigger than I've ever seen them; you should get that checked out."

The Doctor turned and started down the corridor, but Clara held firmly onto his arm. Slowly, he stopped and turned back to her, letting out a sigh and stared at the wall beside her. Clara was having none of it.

"Listen; I know you're upset right now, but you need to calm down. Please,"

Clara took his hands in hers and looked into his eyes. Slowly, his eyes shifted to met her gaze. "Be a Doctor. Not a warrior; not some kind of Oncoming Storm. Just be a Doctor."

They held their gazes for another moment before the Doctor replied, in a quiet, low voice. "I'll try."

They shared a tiny smile and set off down the corridor together, keeping one hand connected with the other's. The Doctor was finally walking at a pace that Clara could keep up with comfortably. Her legs thanked him profusely.

As they approached a corner, the sound of voices entered their ears, shocking their bodies. Clara tightened her grasp on the Doctor's hand as they rounded the curve. He responded with a reassuring squeeze from his hand to hers.

"Ah; here they are now."

In front of the Doctor and Clara stood two dark blue-green people dressed in long robes. They looked like monks, only with cat-like whiskers and gills on their necks. The one was looking them over with a smile on his face. The other seemed anxious, and took a few steps towards the travelers as soon as they came in sight.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow at the closest stranger. "You must be the Lobods."

The Lobod put an arm around Clara, urging her and the Doctor to walk with him. "And you must be the two strangers that the Frodiles sent. Come; I will take you to Wels Alowana, our leader. He is very anxious to meet you."

Clara and the Doctor let go of each other's hands as the Lobod ushered them hastily to a door on the left side of the next corridor and gestured for them to enter without him. He then dashed off to the other Lobod and began a frantic, whispered conversation. Clara and the Doctor stepped into the room before they could hear anything that was being said.

Wels Alowana sat criss-crossed on a mat that lay on the floor, facing a large painting that looked over the small room. The room was empty besides a desk and a flat screen on the wall above it. The floors and walls in here looked wooden, but felt like metal. Clara almost voiced her admiration for the work put into it, but the Doctor's steely voice cut into her thoughts. He wasn't wasting any time today.

"Wels Alowana?"

The Lobod leader replied, without turning around, "You must be the travelers. General Salam told us you had come here."

The Doctor took a step closer to the small man. "Yes, we talked to the General. Are you aware of what he's planned on doing?"

Wels sighed and looked to the floor. "Yes; he communicated with us just moments before you arrived."

Wes stood slowly and turned to the Doctor and Clara. His eyes showed his sadness; his whiskers even seemed to be dropping. Clara took a few steps towards him. "We're here to help."

The Doctor joined her in the center of the room. Wes smiled painfully at them both. "Thank you for your kindness, but I don't know what we can do. We have no army; no defense against the Frodiles."

The Doctor allowed a small smirk to grow on his face. "An army isn't the only defense."

Briskly, he turned and walked to the table, sitting in the chair behind it, folding his hands on the desktop with schoolboy energy. "We just need to think."

Wels stepped to the opposite side of the table. "I've been meditating on it since we learned of his plan. There seems to be no solution."

The Doctor was undisturbed by Alowana's words. "There's always a solution."

Clara smiled to herself. The Doctor had listened to her. He was being true to his promise. He wasn't going to give up. He wasn't going to be cowardly. He was going to be a Doctor.

The Doctor stood up as quickly as he had sat down and danced around the table to Wels. "Come on! There's gotta be something that we haven't thought of yet. Do you have any maps of this place? Charts? Diagrams?"

Alowana nodded and went to the chairside of the desk, pulled out a few old, worn maps made of a thin kind of plastic, and placed them on top of the desk. The Doctor looked them over and spread them out, eyes flitting from one to another rapidly. The light in his eyes faded slightly, but he nodded his head. "Ok...ok. Time to do something clever."

As soon as they both leaned down to look at the drawings and writings in front of them, the screen behind the desk flipped on, fuzzy screen slowly coming into focus. Wels stood and ran around the table to look at the screen face to face as the image of General Salam slowly generated itself. He seemed even more unhappy than when the Doctor and Clara had last seen him.

"This is an urgent message to the Lobod tribe. Due to the recent attack from your tribe to the people of Frodilia, we have decided to forgo negotiations. You have one hour until the oxygen is taken from your buildings. Make peace with your gods."

Wels turned heartbrokenly to the Doctor, shaking his head. The Doctor's countenance held no more hope or joy. His eyebrows were furrowed and his tall frame hovered over the tiny Lobod. "Did you know about this?"

Alowana looked at the floor, head still shaking. "I have no idea what happened."

"Are you telling me the truth? This is very important! Are you lying to me?"

Noise came from the corridor, full of panic and fear. Clara slowly walked to the door and looked out the window. The Doctor was so focused on Wels that he didn't hear anything. He didn't even hear when the door opened and Clara was swept away in the crowd.

The Lobod leader looked into the Doctor's eyes. His whiskers seemed to be dropping again. "I have never told a lie in all of my life. We have no military. I promise you; we are peaceful."

The Doctor seemed satisfied with his response and turned away from him, letting his gaze wander around the room. His eyebrows raised as he looked at the door. "Where's Clara?"

He spun on the spot, looking at every inch of the tiny room. He turned back to Wels with rising fear in his eyes. "Did you see her leave?"

The screen buzzed and started forming a new image, this one darker and slightly harder to see than the other. The Doctor squinted as the picture came into focus, showing a Lobod, dressed in oddly militaristic uniforms. The Doctor looked at Wels curiously, but the leader seemed just as surprised as he was. Suddenly the Lobod's voice from the screen called the Doctor's attention back.

"We are the Lobod Resistance. We have been building a secret military for the past five years so that we can protect our families from the looming Frodile threat. We always planned on being used only as a last resort, and it seems that time has come. If you, our leader, do not wish to join us, then we implore you to think otherwise. We have in our custody three of the Governors of our people, and one of the strangers who came to help us."

The camera shifted to where Clara sat handcuffed beside three Lobods. The Doctor felt his breath leave him. "Clara!"

His companion sat up as much as she could and gazed into the camera, eyes wide with fear. "Doctor!"

The Timelord's eyes were lot with fury. "Clara, I'm so sorry. I should've been paying more attention."

"It's alright, Doctor. It's ok."

The camera turned back to the leader of the Resistance. "You have thirty minutes to join us or these people will go to the front line."

The screen flickered off, leaving the Doctor's steely blue eyes locked on the wall. His mind was working overtime; mouth open in and closing as he weighed his options and tried to think of what to do. Wels Alowana looked up at him with a pitiful, defeated gaze, but the Doctor wasn't about to back down. Inside, a storm was brewing. Maybe with Clara here, it could be calmed, but wig out here...the Oncoming Storm was back.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The Doctor paced back and forth in front of the desk, hands rubbing together anxiously. His eyes stared unfocused at a spot on the floor in front of him. When he finally spoke, his voice held uncertainty and, possibly, a hint of fear. "Ok. Thirty minutes. What can we do in thirty minutes?"

Alowana put a comforting hand on the Doctor's arm, but the Timelord only jumped and jerked his arm away from the kind Lobod. Wels cocked his head at the stranger. "It is time for us to make our peace. Perhaps this is simply meant to be. Perhaps it is time for our world to come to an end."

The Doctor glared at the tiny man in front of him. "We can't give up. I can find a way out of this; I always do."

Wels sighed as the Doctor burst towards the table, lifting the maps diagrams one by one and then tossing them back in a furious haste. "The answer is somewhere here."

Blue eyes gazed up at the distressed Lobod. "I know you've never fought before, and I commend you for that. But this is your species; your people. They're terrified. You have to at least try to help them."

Wels nodded his head slowly and looked down at the maps. "I will assist as well as I can."

The Doctor's lips parted in a thankful smile, one of the rarest actions for this regeneration, and they set to work.

Inside the holding cell, Clara was struggling to keep the Governors calm. The Resistance leader had removed their handcuffs, but still each of them was growing more and more panicked with each minute that passed. Every so often, a Resistance soldier would come into the room to check on them and make sure they were still there. It was when one of these guards left that Clara turned to the terrified Lobod beside her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey; we're going to be alright. I have a friend; he's called the Doctor. He's going to get us out of here. He can stop all of this."

The Governor on her other side turned and gave her a questioning gaze. "Do you really believe one man can stop this day of war and chaos?"

Clara turned to the second Lobod and smiled softly. "Yes; I really do."

Their conversation silenced as another guard came in and looked them over. Clara stared up at the dark ceiling, closing her eyes. All she could do was hope she was right about the Doctor.

The Doctor tore furiously through each of the charts. He had been searching and thinking for over twenty minutes now, all dead ends and impossibilities. As time ticked on, he began pacing around the room again, prodding his brain for something, anything, that might actually work. He turned to Wels, who was sitting in the chair behind the desk looking utterly defeated. "There has to be something we missed. There's always something."

Alowana didn't even look up at the Timelord. All of a sudden, The Doctor's eyes lit up and he rushed back to the table, looking over a mapp of the civilization. "If we could just..."

His newfound smile faded into a scowl, eyebrows furrowing. A dark haze fell over his features. "No...not enough time. It would take DAYS!"

On the word 'days', he crumpled up the map as best as he could and threw it across the room. Wels broke out of his reverie only as the Oncoming Storm hit the desk hard with his fist. His breathing was heavy and full of a spiteful anger that few had ever really seen. It took him a minute to calm down, and when he didn't, he only seemed to seemed to calm slightly.

He was close to the breaking point. There was only so much pain a man with two hearts could take, and this day was slowly getting the best of him. His hands held the edges of the table with white-knuckled strength.

"I thought, maybe..."

His gaze met Wels'. "I'm sorry. I can usually figure something out...the Frodiles won't stop for anything now they think you have a secret army. General Salam won't believe you if you tell him otherwise."

Wels folded his hands on the table and smiled sadly up at the Doctor. "Thank you for trying, my friend."

Wels held out his hand and the Doctor took it with his own slowly. Just as they started their handshake, though, the screen lit up behind Wels, prompting the Libod to dash around the table and stand beside the Docie, who was frozen with dread. The leader of the Resistance was on the screen. The Governors and Clara sat behind him.

The Doctor's focus was stuck on his young human companion. How much had she helped him in these last few years? How much did he owe her? And now here she was, about to be sent to the front line of some battle...it wasn't supposed to end this way. This was just a happy little trip. A little sightseeing to make up for the lava incident. Now this...

The Doctor didn't realize he hadn't heard a word of what was being said until the guards started shoving their prisoners towards the door. "Clara! Please; let Clara go. She's not even supposed to be here."

The Resistance leader glared at the camera. "You had your chance to join us."

Suddenly, the screen went dark, and the Doctor's eyes widened in fear. A ringing in his ears was practically deafening him as he stared blankly at the wall in front of him. Wels was saying something behind him, trying to call the Doctor's attention, but the Timelord didn't hear anything.

After a moment, the Doctor slowly turned to face Wels, and the Lobod nearly gasped I'n shock. The Timelord's face was devoid of any emotion. He had been completely used up; his quota of emotion used for the day. He wasn't even an Oncoming Storm anymore. He was simply...gone.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Clara watched the Resistance soldiers warily as they turned from the camera and stood menacingly over the hostages. The Lobods beside her were practically whimpering with fear, and her own heart was pounding, but the only emotion in her eyes was resolve. Resolve to get back to the Doctor. Resolve to save the city. Resolve to do the impossible. She was, after all, the Impossible Girl.

The closest Resistance soldier bent down to grab her arm, but was held back by the voice of one of his associates. "They're breached the outer layer of the buildings. The oxygen is being drained!"

The corridor outside was filled with panic. People running; screaming. The Resistance were even feeling the pressure, forgetting about their prisoners and instead getting themselves suited up for war. Clara her one of them mutter, "I thought we had more time."

As the chaos ensued, Clara motioned to the Governors and brought them all around her in a small circle. "We need to get out while they're distracted. Follow me."

Clara bit her lip as she glance anxiously towards the soldiers, but they were all turned away from her, putting together their weapons and stashing extra ammunition in the many pockets of Thor military combat uniforms. Then she made a dash for the door.

Without a second glance back, the teacher pushed her legs forward, through the door, and into the maddening crowd that was dashing about in every which way. She tried to find the Lobod Governors as she paused or a breath at the next corner, but they looked just like every other creature in the mass of bodies. She closed her eyes for a moment, letting herself have just a second of peace, but even that was cut short.

Not three meters away stood two Resistance soldiers, searching every crevice and face that they happened to see. Clara she leaned far back against the wall, behind a tall support beam, and nearly held her breath. The closest soldier to her was only just beyond the tall metal beam.

Just before he stepped directly in front of her, his friend yelled his name, calling him back. Clara inched away from the wall and listened to their conversation. "We have to get to the Hangar. The planes still have oxygen in 'em. We have to fight back now or we'll never win."

Clara kept their words buried in her mind for future use and sprinted down the corridor, glancing at every door as she passed it with growing frustration. It all looked the same. Ever door. Every corridor. How was she supposed to find one tiny room in this whole labyrinth?

Meanwhile, the Doctor was standing in front of the desk with his head bent and eyes closed. The noise from the corridor was nearly deafening to him, piercing right through him and creeping into his hearts. They were terrified. Screaming. And he didn't know how to fix it.

The whole world seemed to be in chaos. A secret army rising against an unbeatable enemy; a leader who has lost all hope; innocent, peaceful children and their innocent, peaceful parents. Families and friends huddling together.

The Doctor's eyes shot open and his head flew up to face the blank wall once more. Wels had his head in his hands and he was crouching against a nearby wall. The Timelord spun around on the spot and hurried to him, kneeling beside him. Rather roughly, he patted the Lobod's leg until the man turned up to face him.

"I don't know if Clara is-is alive or not, but I made her a promise. I am not going to give up on your people, but you need to help me."

Wels wiped his face in his sleeve and sat up. "What do you need?"

The Doctor stood and helped the tiny Lobod up to his feet, then quickly flew to the back of the table and sat down in the chair. Nothing in his countenance showed fear or anxiety. In fact, he seemed to be thriving. Wels took a few steps towards the desk, folding his hands together.

The Doctor picked up the closest map to his hand and, without looking up, explained, "If I'm correct, we have twenty minutes until the oxygen level runs too low for you and your people to breath. I don't know what the Frodiles are planning, but when the oxygen runs out, it'll form a flammable hydrogen gas. Even if everyone gets out of the buildings and into the open lake, there's a very high possibility that the Frodiles will burn your civilization down completely, which would also make the lake a toxic place to live."

Wels shook his head and gazed downward. The Doctor flipped the map over and looked at the chart on the other side, retaining his peaceful tone and attitude. "Which is why...we need to solve this quickly."

The Doctor began tearing through the diagrams again, and Wels joined him as best as he could. Five minutes passed in a furious flurry of pictures and words that all got jumbled up in the Doctor's brain. He kept on, though, trying and thinking and pondering. One thing the Doctor never did was walk away.

Clara wandered the halls for another five minutes before her distant gaze landed on a very familiar door, stuck in behind a mass of people whose fear struck her to the core. She pushed through them with tears forming in her eyes and opened the door. Her jaw dropped in shock.

The Doctor was standing in front of the desk, flipping through charts and maps haphazardly, but he turned around curiously as the door opened. His entire face lit up. As did Clara's.

Her legs carried her to him instantly and her arms flung around his neck, holding onto him tightly. She finally allowed the tears in her eyes to fall.

If Clara seemed happy to see him, the Doctor was ecstatic to see his companion. His usually stiff arms wrapped around her and his voice came hoarsely, as if he were close to tears himself. "Clara! I didn't know..."

"I know. I know; I'm fine."

Clara leaned her head into his shoulder, letting herself get lost in the moment, just for a second. Her fingers held onto his jacket like a small child's would, clinging to the fabric like a lifeline. Gently he pulled away and looked into her eyes, smiling a sweet, honest smile. "I don't know how to save them."

Clara grinned cheekily at the Timelord, causing him to raise an eyebrow. The human held his arms with excited energy. "The Resistance; they have these planes. They said they're full of clean water; reusable oxygen. There's a hangar somewhere near their base."

The Doctor blinked dazedly, lost for words. "That's...that's fantastic!"

He laughed out all of his withheld nerves and turned to Wels, who seemed to be breathing heavily as he leaned against the desk. The Doctor rushed to his side, Clara following not long after. "Wels...do you think we can communicate with The Resistance?"

The man wearily nodded his head. "It's definitely possible, but I don't know what good it will do. They," he took a deep breath before continuing. "They are too far gone to be reasoned with."

The Doctor grasped the Lobod's arm tightly. "No, nobody is too far gone. Wels, I need you...it has to be you. You're their leader. They can still trust you; listen to you. We're strangers; they'd never follow us."

Wels closes his eyes, still breathing very heavily. "I don't have the strength."

The Doctor brought his hands up to his mask, reaching around the back. "I can hold my breath longer than either of you."

Clara grabbed the Doctor's wrist. "No! Doctor-"

"It's fine, Clara. We'll just have to hurry a bit to the hangar. Now; Wels...tell the Resistance leader to let everyone get into the planes...as many as possible. Tell him you have a plan; a way to start a new civilization above the sea; above the ground. Start peace talks with the Frodiles."

Wels shook his head nervously. "I...I don't think I can."

The Doctor gave him a crooked smile. "I know that you can."

The Doctor took a deep breath before pulling off the mask and handing it to Wels urgently. The Lobod pulled it over his face and went to the screen immediately.

The Doctor nodded to Clara and she took his hand. Touch was their only way to communicate now. At least they weren't in this situation just a year before; it would've been a lot more difficult.

Clara led the Doctor into the corridor, where a few Lobods were already starting to pass out. The others were still frantic, running and crying. Silently the human prayed they'd all get to the ships in time.

Corridor after corridor they traversed, Clara now moving a bit faster than the energy-conserving Doctor, and it wasn't long before Clara realized she had no idea where she was going. Like before, every wall and every door looked the same. On that note, even the people in the hallways looked the same. After fifteen minutes of walking, Clara was about to give up and sit down for a good cry, but a sudden release of pressure on her hand jolted her attention backwards. The Doctor had stumbled, now crouching on one knee as he looked down at the metal floor. Clara bent beside him and looked over his exhausted frame. Silently, she placed his arm over her shoulders and helped him stand back up, barely able to walk now that she had a Timelord in tow.

They moved like this, with Clara's hands wrapped around the Doctor's waist and the Doctor clinging to his companion for strength, for another five minutes before the beautiful sign reading Hanger came into view, just across the hall. Clara nearly shouted in delight. Or perhaps she did. She was so tired she couldn't even keep her thoughts straight, let alone her words.

As they entered the hangar, the astonishing sight of hundreds of high-tech airplanes forced Clara to pause for a moment. There were so many and the hangar was so big that she didn't know how they had kept it a secret so long.

She felt some of the eight on her shoulder disappear and looked across the Doctor to find a Lobod holding up his other side. She smiled in what she hopes was a thankful manner as they started for one of the unoccupied planes.

The Lobod held the Doctor upright as Clara jumped into the cockpit, then got another Lobod to help lift up the Timelord and ease him half in a seat and half in Clara's lap. Then the roof came up over the plane and Clara was left with only the barely conscious Doctor for company.

His eyes were just slits, gazing up at her with more helplessness than she had ever seen him express. He was in her care. Completely defenseless. And Clara had no idea what to do.

She looked all over the small ship for something she understood, but the controls were way more complicated than anything she had seen before. Other ships took off in the distance and Clara cursed their trained minds. She didn't even know how to change a plug.

The Doctor suddenly started jerking in her arms and her panic started flooding her. Tears welled in her eyes, and her fingers flew through his hair comfortingly. "I don't know what to do!"

His hearts were struggling to get oxygen to his brain, and he was quickly and undoubtedly slipping into unconsciousness. Suddenly, Clara's sight landed on a big, red button in the center of the control panel. She glanced at the Doctor in her arms and noticed his mouth was open, breathing in the water-filled plane. He had passed out, then. Clara's hand smacked down the button without a second thought and, to her gratefulness, the ship slowly began rising to the surface.

The young teacher's grin widened as her watery eyes looked up at the growing image of the sub. "We're on our way."

She looked back down at the Doctor and held him closer to herself. "Hang on, Doctor. Please."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Clara was growing more and more impatient as time ticked by. The ship seemed to barely be moving anymore and she couldn't see the rise and fall of the Doctor's chest anymore. Her entire body was shaking furiously and her foot was tapping against the floor unconsciously. Her eyes were glued to the surface, mouth uttering faint hopes and prayers that everything would be alright. That they'd get to the top soon.

Her prayers were finally answered as the ship popped out of the lake and dove onto the earth above. Clara clicked a button on the roof and it slid up and out of the way. She didn't spare a second before jumping out of the ship and throwing off her oxygen mask.

The ground here was less muddy than anywhere they had been recently, and it took a second for Clara to get her bearings and find her footing, but as soon as she did, she leaned halfway into the cockpit and pulled the Doctor out, inch by agonizing inch, until he lay on the ground at her feet.

Her knees collided with the ground painfully, but she ignored it completely. Her head was bent over, ear over the Doctor's chest, a small hand on the other side, directly over one of his hearts. She couldn't hear or feel anything. Fear began rising in her, making her feel sick.

Without a moment's hesitation, she placed her hands folded over the left side of the Doctor's unmoving chest and began the CPR she had trained for in order to work at Coal Hill. The real thing turned out to be a bit more difficult than working on a little plastic dummy on a random, boring Tuesday morning.

For starters, all of her emotions were being suppressed, barely, so that she didn't start bawling and freaking out, which is what she truly wanted to do. Secondly, on a normal day, pushing as hard as she could on her best friend's chest seemed like the opposite of a good idea.

Still she pushed on, switching to the opposite side after thirty or so goes at his left heart. When she had tried equally hard on the right, she moved to his slackened face and breathed good, clean air into his mouth, cradling his head back with one hand and plugging his nose with the other. She listened for a heartbeat again, but found none.

Once more she performed the operation, adding more force to her chest pounding and a bigger lungful of air to her breathing, but nothing changed. For a second or two, she let her tears fall out of her eyes and looked over the still Timelord, clothes drenched and hair flattened by the water. Face even paler than usual and lips as white as his skin.

She snapped out of her outburst and started once more, giving it everything she had and wiping furiously at the tears that started forming in her eyes. "Come on, Doctor; breath!"

She pounded over his right heart twice more before taking in as much air as she could and giving it to the Doctor. As soon as she parted from his cool lips, his chest heaved and a strained, messy breath came to him. With Clara's help, he turned into his side and coughed up the water that had nearly killed him, fingers clenching into the dirt as he struggled to breath. Clara leaned over him, holding him and rubbing his back.

"Breath; just breath. You're ok. I've got you."

The Doctor slowly got himself under control and weakly lay back on Clara's lap. His eyes were barely open, but a tiny smile crooked his lips. "Clara."

They stared into each other's eyes for a few seconds before Clara finally let her emotions out. Ugly crying mixed with nervous laughter marred her face as her arms flew around the Doctor and held him close to her body in a tight hug. The Doctor weakly wrapped an arm around her neck.

"I thought I lost you."

"Never."

She held onto him for a considerable amount of time; long enough for the ships to start coming up above the surface, floating up high in the sky above them. Eventually, the Doctor's head rested on her lap as they lay together on the shoreline. Her gaze was on the horizon; his eyes were closed. Her thumb caressed the hair just beside his ear absentmindedly. She was truly exhausted; they both were. Some days, even for them, were just too stressful.

In time, they found their way slowly back to the TARDIS. Night had passed and the sun shining above them made traveling through the woods just a bit more enjoyable. When they finally landed in the Console Room, they both shared one last hug before separating to find cleaner, dryer clothes to wear. They were both soaked to the bone and freezing. It would be a wonder if neither of them ended up ill.

The TARDIS seemed to sense the traveller's needs and set up two big, comfy chairs in the Console room, just beside the metal railing. So they sat in the ancient time machine, wrapped in two of the ship's warmest blankets, sipping tea that seemed to refill itself as Clara drank it. Her spent brain power simply accepted this oddity without question. Chalked it up to Timelord technology.

On the scanner suddenly popped up an image of the Lobod leader, Wels Alowana. The Doctor and Clara sat up abruptly. Wels' voice came in, cheery and without any sign of the events that had passed.

"Hello, strangers. On behalf of the Lobod people, I must thank you for all that you have done for us. As a species, we the leaders have come together with the Resistance to form an agreement. We will use the ships they have created and begin a new society, above the water, in these safe pods. We will expand, of course, but we have the technology and the means to do so in time.

Also, we have begun peace talks with the Frodies and, together, are entering a new era. An era of prosperity for all. Thank you, again, travellers. We owe you our lives. If you ever decide to visit us again, we will have a place set for you with clean air for you to breath. I hope we meet again someday."

The Doctor and Clara merely looked at each other with a smile as the screen blacked out, clinking their mugs of tea in triumph.


End file.
